Recognition
by BeccaPotter1
Summary: "Oh and Rose," he waited for her to turn, and when she did, he almost didn't speak. When she was about to ask how he knew her name, he finally found his voice "I never could say it before, but..."
1. The End of Time

The End of Time

The Doctor watched, leaning against a wall in the shadows, as Rose walked back towards her apartment with her mum. It'd been years since he'd seen her. He still regretted it, not saying it – "Does it need saying?" he asked, then watched as his part human clone had whispered exactly what he wanted to say to her. He couldn't bear to watch them kiss, knowing that if he'd said it then it would've been him. She would've been kissing him, showing all the feelings that they had for each other, but instead he'd left her to his half self. Left her with the job of making the half him a better person.

He hadn't been lying when he said that he needed her. He really did. She changed him so much, and always for the better. Even when they got lost, or stuck or separated and he did something stupid, she still made him better, she made herself his home. The fact that he'd missed her so much, even after they'd been apart for so long, proved to him how much of home she was. The TARDIS couldn't fill that hole in his heart, the hole that she had filled from the moment she came running into the TARDIS, all the way as she told him she loved him, right till the moment his heart broke as she faded from his view before he said it. "Rose Tyler…" he cursed himself for being slow, for not having the courage to speak quickly and say it, but he knew that if he had, he wouldn't have been able to leave her there, despite knowing he couldn't stay with her.

Before he realises what he's doing, he groans in pain, feeling his regeneration creeping up on him as he tries to hold it off for as long as he can, determined to do this.

"You all right, mate?" Rose asks kindly, her arms wrapped around her body from the cold.

He looked up briefly, before looking down towards his feet, "Yeah."

"Too much to drink?" there was slight humour in her voice. How he'd missed that. The way she'd comment if he got it wrong, the slightly flirty comments that were thrown about when it was just the two of them. How he'd missed her.

"Something like that," He said, moving away from the wall, and watching her now.

They were silent for a few minutes, just watching each other, before she spoke slightly more seriously. "Maybe it's time you went home?"

"Yeah." Was all he could reply again.

"Anyway," She grinned at him, her smile lighting up her oh so innocent face, the innocence that he'd taken away from her, "Happy new year."

"And you," he replied as she turned to walk away, nodding slightly. "What year is this?" he called after her.

"Blimey, how much have you had?" she laughed.

"Well," the Doctor said quietly.

"2005, January the first."

"2005?" He repeated, and she nodded. "Tell you what," he paused, knowing he shouldn't say anything, he shouldn't even be here. "I bet you're going to have a really great year."

Her smile grew as she replied, "Yeah?"

The Doctor just smiled at her, and she turned again to walk away. "Oh and Rose," he waited for her to turn back around to him, and when she did, he almost didn't speak. However, when she was about to ask how he knew her name, he finally found his voice "I never could say it before, but," His voice broke, "I love you too…"

He stepped forward and leant down slightly, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning away as she stared after him confused.

As she turned away he fell to the ground, and missed the glance that he sent in her direction. He felt his heart breaking again as he finally said it, but he couldn't do anything about the fact, though he wondered how his past would change now, and how that would shape her future.

He turned again, as he heard a voice, an Ood, he wasn't sure whether he was hallucinating or not, but he was thankful to Ood Sigma for being there, as he laughed at the irony of it being Ood Sigma over all of the others.

"We will sing to you Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending, but the story never ends." He said, and the Doctor slowly but surely made his way back to the Tardis, his steps a bit easier now as the Ood song was sung loudly in his mind, giving him the strength to move, to get to where half of his home was, as he left the other half, the half he missed so much, behind.

He took off in the Tardis, travelling far into space, away from what he loved, and as he walked around the console, he thought of them, of Rose, his beautiful Rose, brilliant Martha, amazing Donna, of Wilfred; he hadn't lied, he would've been proud to have a father like Wilfred; of Sarah-Jane; it'd been so many years since he'd seen her, and yet she was still doing everything they did when they were together; and of Jack. Thoughts of him made the Doctor laugh a little, as he remembered Jack's shenanigan's, and how close he was to Rose, and Martha, and how he'd saved the whole world, and was still doing so.

He might've screwed up the lives of his companions, but he couldn't deny that they were brilliant, absolutely brilliant, and he realised that he didn't want to let them go, though the pull of regeneration was too much, he wanted to be able to stay, to find a new amazing companion, to take them to see the stars, but instead, he was forced to die. To die and he knew that his new regeneration would ignore Rose as much as he could, because the pain of thinking about her hurt too much.

Taking a few deep breaths, holding off his regeneration for the last few seconds, the Doctors eyes welled up, "I don't wanna go." But even as he said that, he began to glow a brilliant gold, the gold that Rose had been when she'd taken in the Time Vortex nearly a hundred years ago.

He moved his hands to watch the gold particle like substance float on and around his hands, blowing out from him, his thoughts of Rose not fading from his mind as he seemed to explode into a Golden mass, damaging the Tardis at the same time.

**AN – I Know! Sorry! It's not BWatLA! But I had this plot idea of how it might change if the Doctor had said it, and I had to write it! At the moment this is just going to be a one shot or two chapters, but it might turn into a season re-write, however I promised myself that I wouldn't try and write loads of this before finishing BWatLA, because that's not fair on my lovely fans! However that does depend on response! This could even turn into a season 3 re-write too! But that would mean I have to do my least favourite episode(s)! Saying that though, Love and Monsters will be like a short snippet at the end of a chapter if I do this one, because really, that doesn't have any Rose/Doctor in other than at the end! The rating is T just in case, but if I don't do a re-write or don't need it to be T, then I'll change it to K+. So anyway, like I said this won't be updated for a while unless I get an idea which just won't leave me alone, like this nice little chapter! Let me know what you think! **

**Oh! And did anyone get the other fandom reference in this?! :D See if you can find it! (Hint! It's an amazing fairytale show :D)**


	2. Born Again

AN – Yes there are lines that I've missed, not because they're not important to the show, but because I didn't want to put them in. I think it still flows well enough, but if not then tell me and I'll add it in. There is a small amount of change in this, but not much, more towards the end!

**Born Again**

Rose groaned as she woke up, looking blearily around at the interior of the Tardis before her eyes settled on the man, well no, alien in front of her.

"What happened?" She asked quickly, looking around again, confused at where she was.

"Don't you remember?" The Doctor asked, not paying her any specific attention. He wanted to watch her, really he did, but at the same time he needed to move, needed to get the Tardis away from that stupid Game Station.

"_I want you safe, my Doctor." _She had said. How he loved the sound of that, her doctor, though he couldn't tell her. After this was over, he'd have to talk to her, raise the barriers again.

"It's like, there was this singing?" she said in a questioning voice, bringing his thought back to the now as she slowly started to rise from where the Doctor had left her.

"That's right," he replied, turning to look at her "I sang a song and the Dalek's ran away," he said proudly.

Rose stared, trying to work out if he was joking or not. It never had been easy to tell this Doctor's mood, one second he was hyper, the next he was very much the, the oncoming storm was how he'd described it, and that fit his other mood perfectly. The way he jumped between just made Rose's head hurt sometimes, but she wouldn't change him for the world.

Rose shook her head suddenly to clear it, "I was at home." She stated, before frowning in confusion as the Doctor looked on with a grin, still from his previous comment, however the grin faded as he looked to his hand. "No I wasn't, I was in the Tardis and, er, there was this light…" But the Doctor had stopped listening, instead he was staring at his hand, his mouth dropping open as if in surprise as his hand started to glow a brilliant golden colour, just like his Rose had been with the Vortex running through her.

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor finally said, looking over to her, his face broke out into a brief smile as he thought of what to say. "I was going to take you to so many places. Barcelona!" He randomly stated the place, "not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it! Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses," he burst into a small amount of laughter as Rose turned her gaze from him with a smile, he was rambling again, as he always did. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny!"

"Then, why can't we go?" Rose asked, watching him confusedly.

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this." He finished with a grin.

"You're not making any sense," Rose stood up worriedly, raising a finger as if to stop him, though he wasn't doing anything he could stop.

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads! Or no heads!" He said excitedly, "imagine me with no head! And don't say that's an improvement." Rose put on a smile and nodded, trying to not show the confusion in her face as he spoke. The Doctor's mood suddenly changed again as he spoke, "but it's a bit dodgy, this process." Rose's smile faded, "You never know what you're going to end up with."

The Doctor jumped back from the console as though he'd got a shock, and a golden light spread out from him for a few seconds.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, suddenly scared, and she started towards him.

"Stay away!" The Doctor said quickly stopping her in her paces as Rose's mind sped through trying to work out what was going on. Eventually she gave up.

The Doctor grimacing in pain was something Rose had never seen before, at least not like this, and she felt unexpectedly concerned for him and what was going on, "Doctor, tell me what's going on?" She said quietly but hurried.

The Doctor didn't hesitate in replying, "I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that." He grimaced again in pain, "Every cell in my body's dying."

"Can't you do something?"

"Yeah, I'm doing it now." The Doctor was considerably more relaxed then Rose, so he tried to ease her mind a little, "Time Lords have this little trick," he spoke without looking at her now, trying to hold back the pain and the imminent regeneration, "It's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this, not with this daft old face." He smiled at managing to turn it into a bit of a joke. "And before I go…"

"Don't say that!" Rose cut him off, she didn't want him to change, to become someone new, she'd fallen for the man in front of her, leather coat and big ears and fantastic.

"Rose," He looked up, directly at her, willing Rose to listen, to understand, "before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic!" He spoke with a proud smile now, "absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I."

Rose smiled slightly, her hair covering her eyes, but there weren't tears there, like she expected there to be. No, Rose knew that those would come later.

The Doctor jolted and his thought turned to Rose, his beautiful, brave Rose who was stood having to watch this. He hated the fact that this happened now. He was enjoying his like with Rose, and now, knowing his luck, she'd be gone.

Rose stared shielding her eyes slightly from the blazing light, shock evident in her features as watched the Doctor, the milliseconds felt like minutes and the seconds like hours as the golden light continued, and Rose's eyes widened as the colour faded to a different man, but a man she recognised, though couldn't quite remember where from.

The new man had wild brown hair and dark brown eyes, he looked strange with the Doctor's leathers on, and he turned immediately to look at her, before speaking, "Hello. Okay." He paused, rolling his tongue over his teeth, and pulling a face, "Ooo, new teeth, that's weird. So, where was I?" Rose was still stood in shock by the railings, "Oh, that's right. Barcelona."

He turned happily and started messing with the console, saying loud enough so that she could hear, "6pm, Tuesday, October…"

Rose moves slightly from the pillar that she's hidden behind as she heard an unfamiliar hum in her head, quite a comforting hum, but she didn't know where it was coming from, definitely not her. She was about to question the man in front of her, who was going on about how he looked now, before she remembered why she was behind a pillar, and not out in the open. He had changed, and she had recognised him almost instantly. After new year, Rose had spent ages looking for the man in a pinstripe brown suit, with some hair which stuck out at odd angles, and dark brown eyes, or at least, they were dark brown when she saw them last. This 'him' had soft bright eyes, full of hope and light. It was a dramatic change from the man she recognised from before, but she was sure it was him, the only thing that would convince her was if she saw him in that suit.

"Go on then, tell me, what do you think?" The Doctor asked her cheerfully as she came out of her reverie.

"Who are you?" she replied quietly. She knew she should probably feel bad that the giant grin slipped to a frown, but she didn't. He couldn't be the Timelord. Why would the Doctor have gone to her back then anyway?

"I'm the Doctor," he replied simply, worry growing inside him.

"No…" Rose was still quiet, but her voice slowly became stronger as she spoke, "Where is he? What have you done to him?"

"You, you saw me… I changed," The Doctor replied, pointing over his shoulder to just behind him where he'd stood minutes before, glowing golden, "right in front of you."

"I saw him sort of, explode, and then you replaced him, like a… a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something?" Rose said her voice sure now, but questioning. No matter what she'd seen of this man, she wouldn't trust him, at least not yet. With that thought she felt another hum in her head, like whoever or whatever it was irritated that Rose wouldn't just accept him, but still comforting.

"You're not fooling me!" Rose moved, and pushed the Doctor's chest gently, "I've seen all sorts of things! Nano genes, Gelth," it was obvious to the Doctor that Rose was reliving a few moments with his old self as she spoke, "Slitheen." The Doctor raised his eyes at that. "Oh my god, are you Slitheen!" Rose said, taking it as she'd hit the mark.

"I'm not a slitheen," he said calmly, shaking his head, though inside a war was raging on as to why she wouldn't accept him. Was there something wrong with how he looked? Would she want to leave now? Others had stayed after seeing him change, but would she? It was a lot to take in after all. He didn't think he could cope with loosing Rose now, after how much she'd helped him and healed him.

It wasn't until after Rose shouted at him that the Doctor finally sighed. "Rose, it's me! Honestly it's me." His voice was almost pleading her to understand. "I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but, it's still me."

"You can't be," Rose whispered in disbelief, the words of the stranger who confused her all that time ago suddenly ran through her mind, and Rose knew that the Doctor wouldn't openly admit things like that, not to anyone.

"Then how can I remember this?" The Doctor asked, taking a few steps forward till he was right in front of her. This time he spoke quietly and calmly, looking straight into her eyes, and even if the Doctor hadn't carried on speaking, in that moment when their eyes met, she knew he was telling the truth, but he still spoke , "The very first word I ever said to you, trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop window dummies, oh, such a long time ago" The Doctor broke the gaze for a minute, as if he himself were reminiscing, before looking straight back into her eyes, "I took your hand," and he gently slid his hand into Rose's. Rose gave their joint hands a quick glance, but her eyes quickly found the Doctor's again, "I said one word, just one word. I said, Run." His eyes lit up at run, a small smile on his face.

"Doctor?" Rose whispered, though slightly more sure of herself now, she still had to ask it.

The Doctor's face broke into a huge grin, "Hello!"

Rose slid back towards the pillar that she had been hid behind, muttering "oh my God…" as the Doctor bounded round the console.

"And we never stopped did we!" he started hitting some buttons on the console, "All across the universe. Running, running, running."

That was it, Rose thought, he'd finally lost it, and it scared her. If it was him, which she now mostly believed it was, then why this person? The face that she so recognised, that haunted her dreams for so many months even after she met the Doctor, or the other version.

"One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives?" the Doctor started hopping on the spot, a giddy sort of smile on his face. "Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah? Hop? With the…" Rose gave no reaction as the Doctor rambled, she wondered if this would be a trait with this man, so the Doctor stopped, all his brilliant enthusiasm slowly ebbing away, "No?" he asked quietly.

"But, but I've seen you before," Rose didn't take her eyes off him as she spoke, her mind kept running through all these chance meetings she'd dreamed up, and the real meeting too.

"You have?" The Doctor questioned, looking at her wide eyed. "When?"

Rose shrugged, "New Years, 2005," she said, "the year that I first met you."

"Why was I there?" the Doctor hadn't moved from the console, but Rose had moved away from the pillar that she had still been leaning on.

"I… you…" Rose trailed off, not sure what she should say. If it was the Doctor that she'd met before, then he'd told her the thing that she most wanted to hear from the old Doctor, if it wasn't, well, she didn't want to scare him. "I don't know." She sighed, looking to the floor. She would push to see if it was likely that it was him, but right now, she wouldn't say a thing.

"Do you want to leave?" the Doctor asked slowly, hoping that she would say no, and that he'd turn around and she'd have that beautiful grin that he'd always loved.

"Do you want me to?" Rose asked quietly, almost hurt.

"No, but, your choice, if you want to go home?" the Doctor said. Had the situation have been different, Rose could've laughed, this was her home, or at least it had been. "Cancel Barcelona," the Doctor said, taking her silence for agreement. "Change to London, The Powell Estate, ah, let's say, 24th December, consider it a Christmas present." Rose moved towards the console as he spoke again, "there."

"I'm going home?" she asked, defeated.

"Up to you," the Doctor replied, wrapping his arms around him in a defensive manor, "Back to your mum. It's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast… No, Christmas! Turkey! Although, having met your mother," the Doctor allowed himself a quick grin, "nut loaf's more like it," he looked over at Rose as he said that, and was pleased to see that she also had a small smile.

"Was that a smile?" he asked teasingly.

"No," she replied, but was unable to keep the small bit of laughter from her voice.

"That was a smile!" he said again, triumphantly

"No it wasn't." Rose said again, this time being slightly more successful at not laughing, looking down rather than at him.

"You smiled" The Doctor continued in his teasing tone, smiling slightly as he spoke.

"No I didn't." The humour from Rose's voice was now all gone.

"Oh, come on, all I did was change." The Doctor said his voice almost pleading her to accept him. "I didn't…" At the strange noise that came from the Doctor's mouth, Rose looked up again.

"What?" she asked, looking questioningly at him.

"I said I didn't…" At his attempt to repeat, he once again made the strange noises, almost light a retching noise. The Tardis started shaking as the noises finished, causing Rose to become unstable and cling to controls. "Uh oh…"

"Are you alright?" Rose asked, the strangeness of what was going on causing her to ignore her confusion and annoyance at him. The Doctor stopped moving for a second after she spoke, and as he did, a golden mist, which Rose was sure she'd seen before, though couldn't quite remember it, blew out of his mouth as he breathed out, disappearing into the air. "What's that?"

The Doctor looked up, breathing heavily. "The change is going a bit wrong and all." This time the Doctor fell to his knees as he seemed to gag again.

"Look, maybe we should go back?" Rose asked, her voice slightly panicked, "let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do!" She said urgently.

"Nah!" The Doctor said, bent double, but suddenly sounding fine. "He's busy, got plenty to do, rebuilding the Earth." He glanced at her quickly, hoping she wouldn't see past his lie. "Oh, haven't used this one in years!" The Doctor said, part of him was glad, it was a good distraction technique, another part had no idea what it was doing, and the other part actually registered Rose's worry, but completely ignored it, as she asked what he was doing.

"STOP IT!" Rose shouted suddenly, fear evident in her voice even over her anger. He wouldn't do this to her, not her Doctor. Her Doctor had always listened to her, and done something if she asked, this person just bounded about ignoring everything she said.

"Ah, don't be so dull!" He said, his voice almost cruel, "Let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that vortex!" He exclaimed excitedly. As soon as he finished speaking however, he caught her eye and stopped for a moment, looking directly at her. "Regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself." His voice was calm as he spoke, before he grimaced again, "Ah my head!"

He suddenly sprang back into action, "FASTER! Let's open those engines!" A bell started ringing in the console room suddenly.

"What's that?!" Rose asked, her voice showing all her panic, but the Doctor just laughed.

"Crash landing!" He was grinning manically, excitedly at her, and still laughing.

"Then do something!" Rose shouted at him over the alarm the fright in her voice rising with each syllable.

"Too late! Out of control." He danced around the console as he spoke, flicking switches, which Rose hopped would make a difference. At one point Rose watched as he jumped excitedly for some reason that she assumed only he knew, exclaiming, "Hot Dog!"

"You're gunna kill us!" Rose yelled, wishing she could get through to him, but he didn't seem to hear a word that she said.

"Hold on tight, here we go!" Both the Doctor and Rose grasped onto the console, and their eyes met as they bounced around, Rose's frightened eyes, and the Doctor's manic, gleeful ones. "Christmas Eve!" He grinned at her, as if that meant something to her. As they were about to land, Rose felt an angry sort of hum in her mind, which she didn't understand where it was from, adding confusion to her range of emotions, but before she could ask the Doctor, he practically sprinted overenthusiastically out the door.

**AN - YES! This is going to turn into a season re-write, but I'm afraid I'm taking BWatLA down! I can't get my head around it, and have more ideas for this story than for that. Not much will change, but enough will (especially their relationship!), and I'll try adding extra chapters in :D A few questions about where to take it from your guys points of view (even if you're late reading this and I've updated any more chapters, please let me know :D)**

**1 – Should the Doctor lose Rose at the end of Doomsday?**

**2 – Should Rose have any special kind of power thing from the Tardis? **

**If yes, then when should she get them? During season 2, or (if you want her to survive Doomsday) during the Runaway Bride?**

**(Note: I have given her something in here, but have a way of explaining them if people don't want her to have them :) )**

**3 – Would you guys like extra chapters mixed in with the real ones, or just the real chapters? In some cases there will be extra ones (after The Girl in the Fireplace for example)**

**4 – If you answered that you'd like extra, where would you get suggestions of names for the planets from, or would you want them just in the TARDIS, or doing fun little things on Earth? **

**Hopefully I'll get a bit of feedback, please don't expect regular updates (I'm a busy girl! xD) and enjoy! **


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